> General Discussions

Image of Christ

<< < (5/9) > >>

Deborah-Leigh:
To add :

Excerpts from Nashville quoting Ray:

So first of all, now you have this ugly man so why did the crowds come ? Because the loved Him? So they can get healed. It's the only reason…well one other reason…free meals. I bet the fish He multiplied were really good!…

and...

Now it says He is despised and rejected of others. A man of suffering. But the Hebrew is PAIN.  Because if we think of suffering right away we think of some spiritual thing. Now…you know…He suffered persecution…you know…things of that nature. The word is still suffering but the word is PAIN. Why was He in pain? Because He had infirmities. Is this a different Jesus that you and all were always thinking about?

As one from whom others hide their face. But that's not what it says in the Hebrew. As one who hides His face. Imagine. The Son of God. Creator of the Universe. You're in a body. Kind of ugly, diseased, infirmities, in pain. Having to go through a crowd. You wouldn't want to call attention to yourself. There is nothing here to see…you know. He was despised and we held Him of no account….and carried our diseases. Now do you understand that He was tempted in ALL ways as we. Yet without sin. And we think in once in a while a pretty girl passed Him and He had to say …Uhhh and look the other way? NO. This is a whole lot more real than that.  He CARRIED OUR DISEASES. No He went to the cross FOR our diseases. NO! HE CARRIED THEM  IN HIS BODY.

Peace to you

Arcturus :)

Deborah-Leigh:
Here are two more translations that add some more perspectives on the appearance of Jesus.

Isaiah 53: Who would credit it? Who'd have foreseen this plot line in God's liberation story? He (Jesus) grew up vulnerable as a sapling in a concrete yard. Not especially attractive; nothing particularly regal about Him. He didn't stand out in a crowd, your Mr Average. He was dissed by most, given the cold shoulder by many. There was a sadness about Him. You could see in His face He was on personal terms with grief. People blocked Him out, verbally abused Him, didn't rate Him.

But whoa! Step back a sec! Weren't those OUR WEAKNESSESS He took on? Wasn't that OUR sadness HE Carried ? But we were convince HE'D been rubbed out of God's good books, punished by Him, held down by Him. How wrong can you be?! He was MESSED UP FOR OUR MESS. He was knocked down for our slip-ups. The slapping we should've got - He got. And we got serenity instead. His punishment beating left Him half-human and us whole and fully human. (Caps mine. Translation from the Word on the Street Rob Lacey)

From The Message Translation:

Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?

The servant grew up before God - a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about Him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.

Peace to you

Arcturus :)

LittleBear:
Hi Arcturus,

Thank you for posting those excerpts from Nashville. I haven't listened to it yet as I have to wait until I can get to the library. At home, I'm on dial-up and can't listen.

Also, the translation of Isaiah 53:2 from Word on the Street was really powerful to me. Is that a good translation? It seems to hit home in a way that the King James doesn't. 

Love,

Ursula

Deborah-Leigh:
Hello Ursula

 :) You ask about the translation I posted from Word on the Street.

I was using that translation to show in contemporary language that Jesus was not attractive as was so beautifully expounded by Ray at Nashville.

Where you ask whether the translation is a good one, I can say yes in as much as it shows that Jesus was not as Hollywood would have us believe. Having said that, I would not go as far as to say that the translation is good beyond that point. For instance, the translator says quote : "His punishment beating left Him half-human"....now if we take that to mean the punishment was from man, then yes it is correct and appropriate. If we take it to mean that God punished His Son, ( which the translation leaves very little room for ) then that is heresy and blasphemy! That point just might not be too clear to some that's all. :D God did not ever pour out any wrath on His Precious Son in whom He was most pleased! So yes, for me, the translation is good!

Peace to you

Arcturus :)

skydreamers:
Hi everyone,

In thinking about this thread, it became a powerful thought to me to imagine Jesus as a child.  We all know how cruel children can be, and with the "questionable" birth, the community would have rejected him also on that basis alone. 

Did anyone see the movie "The Nativity"?  It really hit me the way this movie portrayed the reactions and condemning looks towards Mary, as her pregnancy was questionable to many no doubt.  There was likely this stigma that Jesus carried around with him as well.  On top of that, to be even unattractive or sickly looking...what abuse must he have suffered at the hands of other jeering children or even adults? 

Isaiah 52:14
 His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.

marred:

BDB Definition:
1) disfigurement (of face), corruption


If Jesus was disfigured right from birth, then it strikes me that it is highly possible, that even as a child, Jesus was experiencing what millions of children in this world experience...abuse, scorn and rejection. 

We do not read much of Jesus' relationship with his father.  Is it possible this relationship was estranged?  Was he rejected by his earthly father?  How did his brothers treat him when they were children?  Look at Joseph, he was thrown into a pit by his own brothers!  Of course, the scriptures don't give us much information about Jesus as a child, so we are left to our own imaginations.  But I just know how the world can be, and how people can act towards the rejected of society.  I'm thinking of a recent thread posted by Joe about his daughter, and the struggle she has in getting her challenged students treated with some respect and attention.  Would it have been any different in Jesus' day? 

But in the end, all this just confirms how intimately Jesus knows all of man's sorrows and pains...

Isaiah 53:3 Amp
He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.

Psalms 139:3 Amp
You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.


Peace,
Diana

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page